U.S. Says Following New Bird Flu Closely, Preparing Vaccine

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday it was monitoring a new strain of bird flu and has started work on a vaccine just in case it is needed.

So far, the strain known as avian influenza A (H7N9) has only been found in Chinaand does not appear to be capable of being passed from person to person.

The strain has killed five people, and global health officials are discussing if and when it may be necessary to start producing a vaccine.

The infections in China mark the first time humans have been afflicted by this new strain of bird flu, which causes severe respiratory illness.

CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said the agency is monitoring the situation closely and working with its domestic and international partners.

Skinner said the CDC has begun reviewing genetic sequence information on the strain and started the process of making a “seed” virus, a genetically modified version of the virus that could be used by manufacturers to make a vaccine. Because the agency is using artificial or synthetic DNA for this step, Skinner said seed virus may be available to vaccine makers within the next few weeks.

Before full-scale production of a vaccine begins, however, there are several questions that must be addressed, including understanding the extent to which the virus is being transmitted from person to person.

“Right now there is no evidence to suggest that is the case,” Skinner said in a telephone interview.

CDC labs will also be conducting tests to see if the virus is susceptible to current antiviral drugs used to treat flu, such as Roche Holding AG’s <ROG.VX> Tamiflu, he said.

However, Skinner stressed that the steps the CDC is taking are routine preparedness measures that apply whenever a new flu virus is detected in people.

Most conventional flu vaccines in the United States are still made using a 60-year-old process in which the vaccine is grown in fertilized chicken eggs. The method that can take several months to complete, but it is changing.

In November, Novartis <NOVN.VX> won U.S. regulatory approval to sell its cell-based flu vaccine, which uses a speedier manufacturing process.

In January, privately held Protein Sciences Corp won U.S. approval to develop the first gene-based flu vaccine, which uses genetic engineering to grow portions of the virus in insect cells rather than eggs.